Success Stories

Where do your United Way donations go? To programs like these...

United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Florida, Children and Family Services
Our Time after school program

Jacob Wales started coming to Capstone Academy for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy. He was 4 years old and diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Jacob is mostly non-verbal, using gestures like “Up” and some sign language to communicate. Jake’s mom really liked what she saw at Capstone while she waited for Jake to complete his therapy appointments and inquired into having her son attend school here. Then, she enrolled him in the Our Time after school program for the summer.
When Jake started coming to Capstone he was a child that moved constantly around the room to engage in any activity. He would roam the rooms, picking up and throwing items, tearing things off the walls, and putting things in his mouth. Staff found it difficult to engage him in any kind of activity.
With patience and care from his teachers, Jake now participates in the “fun things” going on in the Our Time after school program. He likes to ride a bike and play in the ball pool. Recently he held a crayon and scribbled for the first time – without putting the crayon in his mouth.
Jake’s mother is  happy with how well he is doing in the Our Time after school program.  She is grateful for this United Way funded program.

YMCA of Northwest Florida

Growing up in the shadow of the Downtown Y, Bobby Crumpton played hide and seek, shot pecans in homemade slingshots, and did his best not to get run off. Today, at 53, Bobby says the Y still gives him a point of reference and a place to call home.
The sixth of nine children growing up in the ‘60s, Bobby passed on the opportunity to play college ball after high school, opting instead to attend DeVry Institute in Atlanta and study electronics. He returned to Pensacola in 2002. Bobby, a diabetic, had already lost part of one leg. He lost the other leg after a post-Hurricane Ivan infection. Waking up after surgery a double amputee, Bobby says reality hit him hard.
For a time he was bound to a wheelchair, but for the past three years, he’s learning to walk again with prosthetics. He lives alone and is completely independent, having developed his own systems of managing his life.
Exercise at the Y has helped him regain his strength and balance and provided a great place to meet friends. Member Bob Moran has coached him in the pool, helping Bobby learn to swim. He’s worked with weights, is a beginner with the speed bag, and has taken Tai Chi. “That’s helping me get my balance back,” he explains. Through it all, he’s adamant that accessibility in the branch hasn’t been a barrier and that the atmosphere of the Y is the real reason he sticks around. “It’s the air of family that keeps me coming and the basic principles that the Y was founded on – community, camaraderie, friendly competition.”